At yesterdays Annual General Meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) presented record results for 2011/12, the Company's 50th birthday year and the first full year of operation in its newly transformed home.
Box office takings have more than doubled from £8.3m to £18.1m, commercial income from trading has almost tripled from £1.5m to £4.4m and sponsorship and donations have risen from £2.3m to £5.1m – all of which have allowed the Company to increase the percentage of self-generated income from 52% to 67%. Overall turnover has increased by 54% and topped £50m for the first time ever.
Since the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres reopened in November 2010, 1.3m people have visited the buildings or attended a performance. During 2011/12, the Company welcomed 50,000 diners, saw 43,000 people take a trip up the new Tower and gave theatre tours to 19,000 people – winning VisitEngland's highest accolade, the Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award for 2011.
Across all locations, the RSC gave 1,082 performances of 26 productions and played to 708,022 people, selling twice as many tickets as in the previous year, but maintaining a capacity of 89% and securing approval ratings of 95% from audiences.
The year also saw world record beating results for the RSC's production of Matilda The Musical, which transferred to London in October 2011. Matilda The Musical won seven Olivier awards in April 2012, the highest ever, beating the previous record of six, also held by the RSC for Nicholas Nickleby. Since it opened, Matilda The Musical has played to almost 400,000 people, at an average of 95% capacity over its run, with a total matured and advanced gross of £24m.
During the year, the Company also began preparations for the World Shakespeare Festival, which the RSC is producing with more than 70 partners and thousands of artists as part of London 2012 Festival. The World Shakespeare Festival opened on 23 April 2012 and runs to November.
Nigel Hugill, the RSC's Chairman, said “As Michael and Vikki prepare to hand over to Greg Doran and Catherine Mallyon in this Olympic year, there's a real sense of the baton being passed on. It marks the end of the most tremendous stint and I would like to thank them both, publicly and wholeheartedly, for all they have achieved together.
“They have led the RSC over the last ten years with real vision, ambition and compassion, balancing the books, transforming our Stratford home and commissioning and staging some of the greatest theatre of the decade – from Michael's acclaimed Histories cycle and The Complete Works Festival, through to our now mesmerising, wonderful production of Matilda The Musical.”
Visit www.rsc.org.uk for more information.
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